to ask if you've ever been to Stratford upon Avon

*it's not expensive 🤦🏼‍♀️

The MAD museum is a favourite of ours. It expensive but fills an hour and a half, great if your kids lovely marbles!!

We live between Warwick and Stratford. All the above mentioned Stratford places but just walking around town and looking at the actual buildings is fascinating due to their age. There are lots of walking tours and some that are available to follow yourself online. Lots of quaint old pubs and plenty of coffee and tea shops as well. Some fabulous restaurants for evening too. If you want to travel a bit and have a car - Coughton Court isnt too far and Alcester is another smallish town that is very quaint and also has Ragley Hall just outside town opposite which is a very nice pub for food.

Kenilworth and the Castle (mostly ruin has to be said) is good and then there is Warwick with the Castle but also Lord Leyster Hospital, its own beautiful buildings and history and again lots of more local indie shops rather than the usual suspects. Warwick is accessible by train from Stratford as is Leamington Spa another bigger town with more of the usual shopping suspects and again its own unique history with the Spa buildings etc. Lovely parks and also great food places.

Personally 2.5 days is a nice amount of time for Stratford with some theatre experience and plenty of different museums etc. As someone said the Mad Museum on Sheep street I think it is, is a little different and fun and often there are special markets on over bank holidays - food, craft etc

The Dirty Duck is still the actors' bar and likely always will be.

Vintners is a lovely local restaurant. Highly recommend for pre- or post-theatre dinner.

My friend went for the day last weekend and was very disappointed not to see more, she is booking a long weekend to see the rest. OP my one bit of advise is to wear comfy shoes, there's a lot of walking, make sure you know what's on which side of the river to keep your mileage down

‘He’ is still there ( as far as anyone knows)

‘Good friend, for Jesus sake , forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here
Blessed be the man who spares these stones
But cursed be he who moves my bones ‘

Resquiet in pace….

I took my sons there last Easter holidays and it was lovely. Really pleasant town that has preserved its history in a lovely way. We went to Shakespeare’s birthplace and the school which was great. We also went to mad museum whcih was fun. Also Anne Hathaway’s cottage.

On the second day we went to Warwick castle which (despite people saying on here was awful), we loved and spent the entire day from opening to closing there, doing all the shows, exhibits etc, it was such a fun day out.

You could do this?

www.mysteryguides.co.uk/products/stratford

It's such a lovely place. I can spend ages there.

The backstage tour is great.

They have a nice market outside the theatre in a Sunday.

Things to do:
Shakespeare's Birthplace
New Place
Ann Hathaway's Cottage
RSC tour
Rowing boat on the river
Holy Trinity Church - see Shakespeare's tomb with its curse
Magic Alley (magic shop and experience)
MAD Museum (fab engineering/design museum/experience)
The Butterfly Farm
Crazy Golf
Big wheel
Escape room
Bancroft Gardens - look at canal boats, street performers, etc.
Play at RSC
Play at Attic Theatre
Play at Bear Pit Theatre

Good family places to eat:
The Udder Guy on Sheep St (burgers etc)
Red Hot Mamma's (amazing pizzas)
Hooray's (every flavour of ice cream imaginable)
Boston Tea Party (lovely, healthy options)
Prospero Lounge (informal, bar-style dining)
The Dirty Duck (pub with RSC ties)

Good stuff out of town:
Warwick Castle
Charlecote Park (National Trust)
Coughton Court (National Trust)
Kenilworth Castle
Compton Verney (art gallery and stately home with amazing grounds)
Disc Golf

Have fun! It's a lovely town.

Hidcote Gardens are nearby and some of the most beautiful in the world.

Warwick Castle isn't far away either.

Kenilworth castle is also just down the road 😁

MAD Museum! We go all the way to Stratford upon Avon JUST for the MAD Museum

2.5 days, that's a long time to spend in a small town

The butterfly farm is great for small kids but it's very small. I think we went round three times to make it worthwhile

I think you'll need to go further afield too. Warwick castle is worth a look

In nice weather a boat on the Avon in Warwick or Stratford is nice

The butterfly place is a decent afternoon, and like a PP said you can use clubcard vouchers.

The river is a nice place to sit on the bank and have an ice cream.

There's a nice playground, which also has a paddling pool if you take kids swimming stuff or a change of clothes.

It was very busy though, we tried to book somewhere to eat and couldn't so ate at the hotel

We were there about twenty years ago, nice walk along the river, and had parked a little way out. Walking back to the car there was a lady had a little outdoor cafe thing going on in her front garden so we stopped for coffee and cake. Kinda surreal looking back.
Anyway, nice place to visit.

When I last went there (albeit several years ago) I visited the Tourist Information place first thing and got a 5-in-1 ticket that covered everything I wanted to see (Shakespeare birthplace, Hathaway cottage, butterfly farm etc.) and it was very reasonably priced, so I would recommend popping in to see what they can offer.

Kenilworth Castle is not far away and is a beautiful spot. They have occasional outdoor theatre at night in the ruins, but you'll need to check the schedule.

Mad museum!!

Don't miss the quirky little musuem about moving objects Google it.

Lambs restaurant in Sheep Street is gorgeous. The butterfly farm is nice. The Mad Museum is worth a visit. You can go to the top of the RSC building for free (or a small donation) worth a visit as you can see for miles. Enjoy!

You ll have a smashing time.Things we did
Ann Hathaways cottage just a few train stops away, brilliant!
River cruise.
loads of Shakespeare attractions and you can get a family ticket that covers most got s year.
Shakespeare’s grave in the local church
the Chain river crossing in the park ,amazing
evening ghost walk
RSC book ahead
Everyman cinema
Fab

If you have the budget, book a table at Salt, I’ve been twice and loved it both times.

If you tire of the cultural things the Maybird retail park is within walking distance. They have a fish and chip cafe, a Subway, a small M&S/food hall. Also a large Smiths, Next and a quite large Tesco. Parking is free and there are public toilets.
https://maybirdshopping.co.uk/map. I missed a few places so copied and pasted this map.